BURLINGTON — Sam Dawson had started his shift as a bartender at Ken’s Pizza & Pub Monday evening when he heard that all the restaurants in Vermont would soon be ordered to close down.
Business had already slowed down in recent days as the spread of coronavirus and cases began to mount in Vermont.
On Monday night, less than 24 hours before the business would be required to close its dine-in restaurant until at least April 6, Dawson was only serving three customers at the long bar lit by a pinkish light. Every table but one in the entire restaurant was empty.
Dawson, a 32-year-old bearded and bespectacled bartender, who has worked at the pub for seven years, said his first call on Tuesday morning would be to the state’s unemployment insurance office.
“It would have been nice to get a heads up,” he said of the mandated bar and restaurant closure announced by Gov. Phil Scott Monday.
“As someone who lives on his own without a support network, I don’t know if I’m going to make enough money.”
Dawson said that even if he received benefits, they would likely only amount to half of what he normally earns. And he said he was concerned about how some of the restaurant’s younger employees would fare for three weeks without work.
“I know that a lot of my coworkers don’t have anything in savings,” he said “I’m worried about what’s going to happen to them.”
Rob LaClair, a 28-year-old bartender at another restaurant in town, the St. Paul Street Gastrogrub, was sitting at the bar at Ken’s
He was also worried about his income for the next few weeks. He said he was applying to an emergency grant program administered by the U.S. Bartenders Guild to provide financial assistance to out-of-work bartenders.
But he believes closing down the businesses is an important step in curbing the coronavirus.
“I can’t really complain too much because a restaurant would be a hub for that,” he said, referring to the virus. “Shutting down is what is going to fix it all.”
On Monday night, Burlington’s residents and businesses were bracing for much of the city to shut down as part of the state’s effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Members of the city’s service industry were readying to go three weeks, at the very least, without receiving regular paychecks.
Until April 6, restaurants will no longer be able to provide dine-in service, only takeout and delivery. Bars will have to shut their doors.
Scott made the announcement, when he also took action to further restrict the size of public gatherings in the state from 250 people to 50 people, or 50% of the occupancy of a facility.
“It’s important to remember that in times of crisis we all need to make sacrifices,” the governor said. “But Vermonters, and all Americans, have risen to many challenges before, and this time will be no different.”
About a third of downtown Burlington’s bars and restaurants had already closed down Monday night.
Around 8 p.m., at Piesano’s, a pizza restaurant on Main Street, the doors were closed, the lights were off, and chairs had been stacked on tables. The windows were also dark at Manhattan Pizza & Pub, typically a bustling downtown bar.
A white sign on the door of American Flatbread, a popular restaurant on St. Paul Street, said the business had closed to give staff “a day to rest and remain healthy.” There were only a handful of cars parked on the quiet streets.
Chase Corbin, 23, and Emma Adu-Damoah, 22, both of Williston were out for a walk on a nearly deserted Church Street around 9 p.m. Adu-Damoah called the decision to shut down the businesses “rash.”
Corbin, an electrician, said that many people he knows in the service industry are out of work, and racing to find new sources of income: attempting to sell items online, or looking for babysitting gigs.
“A lot of young professionals are taking a really hard hit from this,” Corbin said.
Leunig’s Bistro & Cafe, a French restaurant on Church Street, was nearly empty, and had closed early at around 8 p.m. Monday.
“I don’t know of any time in history where we’ve been closed this long,” said Kim Blow, the restaurant’s manager. Leunig’s has been in business since 1980.
Blow said the three week shutdown would be of a concern to any business. “Bills still need to be paid whether you’re open or not,” she said.
In the long run though, she said, keeping restaurants closed as a public health measure is important.
“I think that if it makes this slow down faster, I think that is a good option for all,” she said.
Mychaella Devaney, 24, works at a downtown restaurant and said it will be hard for the city’s restaurant staff to weather the next few weeks.
“We rely on it for full-time income and we’re suddenly out of work,” she said.
She declined to name her employer, but said that the step was also essential to stemming the spread of coronavirus.
“It was definitely the right call,” she said.
“If anything I think maybe it should have been done earlier.”
